2011 Wimbledon: Day 1 action

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Starting his defense

Rafael Nadal, the No. 1 seed, drew American Michael Russell to open Centre Court play on June 20, 2011 at the All England Club. The Spaniard needed just under two hours to pick up a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Extra effort

Trying to upset No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain on the first day of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, American Michael Russell broke Nadal twice but was broken seven times himself in a straight-set defeat.

Celebration time

All a blur

Australia's Jelena Dokic reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals and semifinals the first two years she played at the tournament (in 1999 and 2000) but hasn't reached that point at the All England Club since then. She fell in the first round this time around, losing to No. 6 Francesca Schiavone of Italy by a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 score.

Toss up

Risky Riske

Competing in a Grand Slam women's singles draw for just the third time in her career, American Alison Riske pushed No. 2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia to three sets but couldn't pull off the first-round upset at the All England Club.

Court vision

Aiming high

Alex Bogomolov, Jr. has made it past the first round of a Grand Slam singles tournament just once previously. In his first-ever appearance at Wimbledon, he used a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over fellow American Donald Young to advance to the second round on June 20, 2011.

First-round battle

It was American vs. American as Donald Young (pictured) took on compatriot Alex Bogomolov, Jr. on the first day of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. Young hit 42 winners to Bogomolov's 45 and 36 unforced errors to his opponent's 30, losing in four sets.

Facing the point

Follow the bounces

Hitting 20 winners to 15 unforced errors wasn't enough to help American Varvara Lepchenko pull out a first-round victory over No. 19 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, who had 21 winners to 12 unforced errors.

Thanking the crowd

Going the distance

France's Julien Benneteau was up two sets on Belgium's Ruben Bemelmans before his opponent bounced back to take the next two sets. But Benneteau picked up his game in the fifth, ultimately taking the match by a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 score.

Within his reach

After dropping the first two sets in tiebreaks to Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, Germany's Tommy Haas bounced back to take the third set. But that was the end of his run in the match, as he ultimately lost 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.